Nova Scotia should lift some COVID-19 restrictions to help businesses, group says

As COVID-19 numbers remain low in Nova Scotia, the Halifax Chamber of Commerce is calling for the province to relax some of the restrictions to help businesses survive.

Patrick Sullivan, president and CEO of the chamber, said Nova Scotia has some of the lowest case numbers in the country and continent.

"The reality is we need to relax a little bit to allow businesses to operate effectively in what has become a special place in North America," Sullivan said Monday.

He noted that now is an ideal time to make some changes, given that as of Monday there was one active case in the province, no new ones had been reported for six days, and Nova Scotia is the only Maritime province with mandatory masking in public places.

Restrictions have also been eased to allow groups of 50 people to gather without social distancing for performing arts and sports, as of this Thursday.

Restaurants should have more capacity

But, Sullivan said restaurants still have to enforce physical distancing which cuts down on how many customers they can seat at one time.

As patios start to close up for the year, he said it would make a big difference to allow more people inside eateries.

He would also like to see physical distance rules lifted for elevators. Since some buildings still only allow two people in an elevator at one time, Sullivan said many businesses can't send their entire staff back to their physical office spaces.

Earlier this month, the Downtown Halifax Business Commission estimated in an informal survey that only 20 to 25 per cent of the regular workforce has returned to working in the downtown.

In the past, Sullivan has called for the Atlantic bubble to be burst. 

On Monday he said that even with Ontario's current spike, the numbers work out to statistically eight people per 100,000, but he's stepping back from a focus on loosening border restrictions.

"We've got a great thing going in Nova Scotia. Let's at least relax some of the requirements here," he said.

He said that he would still like to see changes at the Nova Scotia border.

It would be ideal to see the province spend some of the $77.3 million for more testing and contact tracking that recently came in from the federal government, Sullivan said, to allow travellers to move in and out of the province more quickly.

Also, Sullivan said bringing in tests at the airport or land border right away would make a big difference in people's ability to travel inter-provincially.

More testing for workers, business travellers

He suggested having people be tested in their home province before travelling to Nova Scotia, then isolating for a few days before a second test a few days later, so they don't have to quarantine for the full 14 days.

New Brunswick allows those who work in other provinces to come back without self isolating, while in P.E.I. rotational workers do not need to self-isolate but must be tested on a regular basis and follow public health measures. Newfoundland allows rotational workers to end their isolation after one week if they have a negative test.

In Nova Scotia, rotational workers still have to self-isolate for 14 days when they come home. 

Although the tourism season is winding down, Sullivan has said that shops and restaurants could still benefit from business travellers, who booked 500,000 room nights in Nova Scotia last year.